


tear up my reputation

by cathedralhearts



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 18:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11295891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathedralhearts/pseuds/cathedralhearts
Summary: In his rage, Sidney decides that Geno can suck it up and deal with him handing it over in the corridors on Monday.





	tear up my reputation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [o_contrary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/o_contrary/gifts).



> I wrote this a few years back, and found it during my Tumblr clean up. Excuse the probable misuse of North American high school culturalisms. I’m from the Commonwealth, we don’t have any of this. Closest I ever got were the soccer guys wearing their kits to class -- which were banned outside of PE, of course -- and hot chips and gravy from the canteen. 
> 
> I did this for o_contrary at the time and it’s still all for her, years later.

\--

  
There’s a Taylor Swift song about teenage pining playing over the cafeteria loudspeaker, and it has never seemed more relevant to Sidney’s situation than now.

  
The only reason Sidney's even paying attention is because his lead journalist (Sidney is editor of the school newspaper, amongst fifty thousand other things) is heading toward the table Sidney had staked out in the caf. That would normally not be worth Sidney musing about teenage pop stars, but all he can think is how _he’s_ Taylor Swift in this scenario, sitting in his bedroom and playing the role of supportive best friend... while all he wants to do is kiss.

  
Kiss _him_ , to be specific.

  
Not his lead journalist, god no. Flower’s an asshole and too… too _Flower_. Gross.

  
No, he wants to kiss who Flower’s dragging with him to the table.

  
Evgeni Malkin, a.k.a. Geno, a.k.a.the most amazing guy at the whole school, captain of the varsity soccer team, and Sidney’s neighbour and unrequited crush for the past six years.

  
Geno’s family migrated from Russia for work, and Geno took to America like a duck to water. Sidney’s family moved from Nova Scotia for similar reasons, and they had bonded over road hockey. Geno’s English was rudimentary at best, so Sidney had tutored him for the rest of the summer. Geno’s brother Denis actually paid attention in class, so he spent most of the time throwing grapes at his little brother and saying things in Russian that turned Geno pink.

 

It hasn’t changed in six years, either. Denis still throws grapes and says stuff in Russian while they’re studying. He’s at UPenn doing something complicated with engineering, and Geno still goes pink. Sidney would love to know what Denis says, but whenever he asks, Geno just brushes him off and changes the subject.

  
“Sid, hi!” Geno exclaims, dropping down into a seat next to Sidney, slinging an arm around him and giving him a sloppy side hug.

  
Geno usually splits his lunches between the team and Sidney. Sidney’s popularity soared once Geno grew a few feet a couple of summers back and everyone started paying attention to him-- on and off the field. They’ve been a package deal for years, and Sidney’s reaped the benefits of being around Geno. However, with that attention comes all the stuff Sidney _doesn’t_ like-- it turns his stomach watching Geno date a new person every few months, disappearing for a fumble between periods under the bleachers.

  
“Hey G. How was class?”

  
Geno whines, a theatrical mess as usual, and slumps further over onto Sidney. Flower’s grinning like the asshole he is, and Sidney glares at him.

  
Apparently his crush can be seen from space, so Flower and the rest of the people on the newspaper -- consisting of Jordy, Hilary and Flower -- are determined to put them in as many compromising positions as possible. They got locked in a linen cupboard at the last house party, and the time before that there was a very panicked ten minutes in an elevator that got stuck between floors.

  
“Ask him,” Flower says, muffled around a mouthful of burger. Geno sits up and puts a huge, warm palm on Sidney’s shoulder.

  
“Sid, need your brain, please. Gonna fail history test next Monday, can you tutor me?” His eyes are so big and brown, his lips full and slightly chapped from the cold. Sidney can see the flex of Geno’s chest under his thin tee, barely hidden by his varsity jacket. Sidney isn’t sure he even knows how to use the word ‘no’ in any context when it comes to Geno anymore.

  
“Sure. Are we actually going to study this time, or are you going to drag me into another Call of Duty marathon?” Sidney says, reaching for a fry on his tray. Geno makes an offended face.

  
“How you dare! I’m best student!” He puffs out his chest and Sidney laughs.

  
“Needing me as a tutor means you’re _not_ the best, okay.”

  
Geno doesn’t stop looking pleased with himself, and bullies Flower into handing over some of his lunch. He doesn’t shift from Sidney’s side all break.

  
*

  
Geno finds him in fifth period, while Sidney searches fruitlessly for his algebra textbook in his locker. He must’ve left it at home, which is so _unlike_ him. He slams his door shut in frustration, and yelps in Geno’s face as he turns and almost runs smack into him.

  
“Geno, what--” Sidney starts, but Geno shoves pieces of paper in his face and runs around the mostly empty corridor, his hall pass falling on the floor as he cheers and pulls his shirt over his head. Sidney goes bright pink and looks down. It’s a test. Geno’s history test, apparently.

  
“I’m pass! 78%, you _best_!” he says, pulling his shirt down, his grin so huge it’s threatening to split his face in two.

  
Sidney laughs and hi-fives him, laughing harder as Geno sweeps him into a bone crushing hug.

  
“I’m take you out this weekend, okay? Movies, we go for burgers, make you eat cake, will be awesome. Yes?” Geno says in a rush, plucking his test from Sidney’s suddenly nerveless fingers. Did Geno just-- is this a _date_?

  
“U-uh,” he stammers. Geno’s still smiling, waiting with his free hand shoved into his sweatpants, and Sidney nods. He feels like a bobblehead. “Yeah, sure.”

  
“Good. I’m text you, we drive home together tonight as well. Denis has car, I don’t like bus.”

  
“Okay,” Sidney sighs, faux put-upon. Geno laughs and ruffles his hair, dashing off to his English class, leaving Sidney in the corridor, wondering what the hell just happened.

  
*

  
It’s not a date-- at least, not _really_.

  
It has the look and feel of every other time they’ve hung out, and Sidney takes a moment to be bitterly disappointed before he gets over it and enjoys himself. Geno wears his varsity jacket and a Pirates snapback, while Sidney’s in a toque and a hoodie. They split a cheesecake and Geno takes over the radio while Sidney’s distracted with driving, and they playfully bicker all the way to the movies. They see the new Denzel Washington one, with copious shooting and a weird moral storyline, and Sidney gets a thrill every time Geno’s fingers brush against his in the popcorn bucket.

  
Geno insists they walk off their fatty food, and they merge into the Saturday night rush. He slings his arm around Sidney as they go, talking about the next soccer game against the Nailers (“Pens win, Sid, and we win big! Give you good headline to say for me,”) and Sidney updates Geno on his next community outreach program.

  
“I’m help,” Geno says, tensing his arm to bring Sidney in closer. Sidney shivers, Geno’s cologne and body warmth utterly doing it for him, and Geno frowns.

  
“You cold?” he asks, letting go. Before Sidney can protest, he shrugs out his jacket and puts it around Sidney’s shoulders.

  
“Geno! It’s like, 40 degrees out, you’re gonna get so cold,” Sidney says, his Canadian guilt really taking hold. Geno rolls his eyes and pokes Sidney until he puts his arms through the armholes and tucks his hands into the pockets. The jacket is still so warm from Geno’s body, and he feels horribly guilty, but it’s Geno’s _varsity jacket_. The only people that wear varsity jackets are the girlfriends and boyfriends of those on the teams. Being seen in a jacket like this means only mean one thing.

  
“We almost back at car, it’s okay. Gonna make curfew, maybe come inside for little bit?” Geno says, sounding almost hesitant.

  
“My parents like you more than me. Of course you’re coming in. Mom will want to make you hot chocolate and call you an idiot for giving me your jacket,” Sidney scoffs. Geno smiles and puts his arm back around Sidney, and he tries not to preen as they walk back to his car.

  
*

  
So, Sidney has a dilemma.

  
Geno had left him passed out on his bed during the middle of their Die Hard 2 rewatch, and Sidney had still been wearing Geno’s jacket. So it’s now Sunday night, and Sidney’s still got it, and he isn’t sure whether to drive over Geno’s house now and return it, or just hand it back on Monday at school.

  
On one hand, giving it back Monday morning would look… _suggestive_ , no two ways about it. On the other hand, Sidney isn’t sure Geno would be okay with that. Geno’s tactile with everyone, and Sidney’s never made a habit of looking for hints in his body language toward Sidney, so he can’t tell if this is normal behaviour or something new.

  
So, he calls Flower, who’s with Hilary and Duper. Hilary laughs at him, and keeps laughing, while Duper and Flower ask if Geno’s going to take him for a milkshake at the diner next time.

  
“He left you his varsity jacket?” Hilary wheezes in the background, over the sound of the others laughing. Sidney calls her something he knows his mother would smack him for.  
He takes a picture instead and sends it; he knows when she gets it because she starts laughing all over again. “Oh my god, you guys are _so dumb_ ,” she chokes out.

  
Sidney hangs up on them. What a bunch of assholes.

  
In his rage, Sidney decides that Geno can suck it up and deal with him handing it over in the corridors on Monday.

  
*

  
Sidney walks into school with TK, Geno’s jacket clutched in his hands and his cap pulled down lower than usual. He searches for ten minutes and is late to homeroom, but Geno’s nowhere to be found. He gets to AP English and sits down, the jacket draped over the back of his chair.

  
“Is that Geno Malkin’s _jacket_?” Sadie hisses as their teacher finishes attendance, her eyes going to his chair. Sidney blushes, but nods.

  
“Yeah, ah--” he starts, but Duper turns around and winks.

  
“Geno left it at his place on Saturday night.”

  
Sidney kicks out at the back of Duper’s chair, and goes to correct that extremely suggestive -- yet _true_ \-- explanation, but Sadie’s turned to the other side, talking to her friend and spreading the news.

  
“He’s going to hate me,” Sidney moans as they file out and head toward their next class.

  
“He’s really not. We’ve been telling you for years he’s just as dumb over you. It’s why the girls never last for long. He does it to make you jealous, when you do get jealous, he dumps them, and then he gets shitty because you never make a move. Rinse, repeat.”

  
Duper is definitely not old enough to be acting like he’s a shitty rental version of Gandalf, Sidney thinks viciously.

  
*

  
Geno avoids him until lunch, and Sidney’s still clutching his damn jacket. He’s freezing, because the caf is always ten degrees too cold.

  
“Where’s Geno? I need to--” Sidney says, waving the jacket around, startling when Geno appears on the other side of the table.

  
“Oh my god, Geno, I’ve been looking for you all day! You left your jacket at my--” Sidney’s cut off when Geno glares, his hands on his hips.

  
“Sid, you look so cold. Wear jacket. Need keep up GPA so can go to Harvard. I’m come back, getting food.” With that, he disappears to harass the lunch ladies into giving him something off the menu.

 

Sidney’s jaw drops.

  
“What just happened?” he says, to nobody in particular.

  
Flower, Duper, Hilary and TK all ignore him.

 

He probably deserves it.

  
*

  
Sidney wearing Geno’s varsity jacket is the biggest news on campus. He gets eight different people asking if they’re going steady now (a resounding, and somewhat heartbreaking, _no_ ), and he’s given up trying to explain the situation.

  
They have sixth period Health together, which is a move of complete cruelty and timetabling. Geno still refuses to take his jacket back, tugging at his school hoodie.

  
“I’m okay. You have no jacket, you keep wear.”

  
_God._

  
Health class has a focus on developing healthy relationships today, which makes Sidney want to laugh at the irony, so they play hangman on Sidney’s workbook while the teacher puts on some boring video from the 80’s and turns down the lights.

  
Geno shuffles his chair closer and pokes his tongue out as he guesses. Sidney turns his nose into the collar of the jacket and breathes in Geno’s smell.

  
*

  
Sidney stops trying to give Geno back his jacket by Wednesday, wearing it over his hoodie and ignoring all the stares he gets. They drop off by the afternoon, anyway.

 

Geno hangs around almost exclusively with Sidney, his arm a permanent fixture on Sidney’s shoulder, and he eats with them at every break now, completely shunning his team. Geno’s also started spending his free period in the Chronicle offices, sitting in Sidney’s tiny office in the back and laughing as Sidney tries to figure out replies to their Agony Aunt section.

  
“You give good advice?” Geno asks, throwing a baseball into the air with one hand, catching it effortlessly with the other.

  
“I’m alright,” Sidney says hurriedly. He’d rather Hilary be doing it, because she’s got the right brand of acerbic wit and actual experience, but she’s off at some hockey invitational in Finland so he’s been saddled with it for this month.

  
“You best at everything. More than alright,” Geno says, not taking his eyes off the ball. Sidney, as he has on a ridiculously frequent basis since Saturday, goes pink.

  
He doesn’t miss Geno’s pleased smile, though.

  
*

  
Friday sees Sidney sitting in the stands with the rest of his friends, watching Geno play soccer, still in his jacket.

  
“You stopped trying to give it back?” TK asks, around a mouthful of donut. Sidney takes a beat to be utterly disgusted, and sips at his Big Gulp.

  
“Yeah. He won’t take it back. I don’t know what he’s doing. I’m really confused.” Sidney sags in his seat. This weird in-between Geno’s been pushing them towards is making his head hurt. He’s too scared to question it though, just in case it all stops.

  
“You need to talk to him, Sid,” TK says, before being interrupted with a massive cheer from the crowd. Geno breaks through the midfield and guns straight for the goalie, zigzagging between defenders and scoring an unbelievable goal in the top right, and everyone erupts around them. Sidney’s on his feet clapping like a moron and yelling-- Geno’s goal pulls them ahead by one.

  
It ends up being the game winner and Sidney watches Geno swap his shirt with the opposing captain, as they head down from the bleachers to be pitchside.

  
“Sid!” Sidney hears, and then Geno’s by his side, shirtless and sweaty, a Gatorade in his hand.  


“Hey, G. Congratulations, you did _awesome!_ ”

  
Geno laughs and hugs him, squeezing Sidney and only pulling back a little.

  
“Still wearing my jacket?” he says, almost too softly for Sidney to hear amongst all the noise around them. Sidney bites his lip.

  
“Yeah. Is that okay?”

  
Geno nods, rubbing a thumb along Sidney’s jaw.

  
“Yeah. Is _really_ okay.”

  
~

  
Geno comes over later that night, showered and changed into sweatpants and a hoodie, smelling of coconut bodywash and Axe. Sidney’s sitting on his bed, the jacket draped over his desk chair and his television muted.

  
“Hey Sid,” Geno says, sitting down on the bed next to Sidney. Their sides press together almost completely, and Sidney sighs.

  
“What’s… what are we doing, Geno?” he asks. Geno stiffens.

  
“I’m-- is not okay?”

  
“It’s okay, I just, what are we doing? Are we just friends, or are you trying to tell me that you like me? Because I’m so confused, and I like you _so_ much, it’s just really--”

  
Sidney doesn’t get to finish, because Geno’s cupped his cheek with one warm, soft palm and kisses him. Sidney melts immediately, kissing back with everything he’s got, and he somehow ends up straddling Geno’s lap. Geno’s fingers make a home on his hips, cool to the touch, but Geno’s mouth is warm and wet, and when Sidney pulls back to pant out, “How long could we have been doing this for?”, his laughter does nothing to quiet the storm in Sidney’s stomach.

  
“At least six years. Denya always make fun of me, say my crush can see from space. I always think you best, Sid.”

  
“Why now?” Sidney says, because he needs to know why Geno decided now was the time to do something about it. They’ve wasted so long.

  
Geno shrugs, because of course he does. “You were cold, wear my jacket, like so much to see you in it. I’m avoid so can’t give back, you stop try. I think maybe you like. Hear rumours we dating, you stop try to… you know. Fix. You just let them think we date. Make me happy, I’m think maybe we can.”

  
“You’re a senior, Geno. We’ve got like three months left before you graduate,” Sidney groans. Geno huffs a laugh and pulls him in for another kiss.

  
“Not going anywhere, Sid. We gonna have a lot more time.”

**Author's Note:**

> On brand @ tumblr and twitter, if you're that way inclined.


End file.
